The ROUND ROBIN
Vol. 1, No. 7
August 1945

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: In our September issue we are re-printing THE TREE OF LIFE, together with the chart which first appeared in our March issue; this in response to the many requests received for copies of this article.

[1]

PROSPICE - 1945

Much has happened in the world, since last the voice of the Round Robin was heard - events so startling that if we truly desired distinction we would not write a single word about them. The "new era" has swept in upon us, borne on pinions of new destruction and of promise. We christen it herewith the A-B era, for ato-bomb, or else A-B-E, and hold that this is properly symbolic. A-B. AB is the child's beginning of the alphabet - or man at the first letters of Nature's mysteries. There are fools who think he is already at X and Y, but all the years of the future will prove otherwise.

Perhaps we should rechristen the month also, giving it the name of "AIYAH", which means Surprise, and Dismay, and Anger. We salute our readers on its 20th day, in the year 1, A-B-E.

Hard are the necessities of War, and strange the ways of the Time Spirit. In the midst of violence and under its aspect, appears this unequalled agency of peace; the Star of its manifestation is the holocaust of a hundred thousand lives. Out of the Eater cometh meat - and from the sword, the ploughshare.

Although we speak of enemies, and recognize our compulsion, this destruction is profoundly shocking; the mind is stunned by it, as if by trumpets of Judgment. When in common days earthquake or tempest or tidal wave take a thousand or ten thousand lives, all men of good will are sorrowful; But when in War one man (no act of God) in one moment obliterates a city, leaves it a lifeless and unapproachable waste, we find, after first astonishment, grim satisfaction in the tale. We hold that this degradation of the mind of men, both terrible and unavoidable, is the blackest evil of the brood of War. It is right to rejoice in the triumph of the cause we believe just, - but also to be sorrowful, and fearful, and humble in contemplation of the power newly granted us.

The Vatican, at the momentous hour, spoke with polysyllabic dignity; "We have come to the catastrophic conclusion of apocalyptic events." Leonardo da Vinci, we are told, would have destroyed so terrible a discovery. But knowledge suppressed today is rediscovered tomorrow. The restless mind of man, ever probing and questioning, is not thus to be denied.

"Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers" - and the question before humanity has been rephrased a thousand times. Shall wisdom and culture, things of the spirit, dominate the achievements of the intellect? Thus far they have not done so, and the augury of experience is evil. But now, in the rapidly approaching years, the climacteric of our seasons is at hand and definitive answer must be given. Can we understand that this long world-agony has been but a shadowing and a sign of the true conflict, which is rooted in men's minds, in things of the spirit, in Powers of Light and Darkness, Ormudz and Ahriman - wisdom and peace, or the far-flung nets of the Abyss.

Across this Abyss we walk as on a tight rope, delicately balanced as if by the grace of God thus far - but the chasm is not yet crossed. Let us hope that from this day on, and before this century ends, our footing may grow secure.

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[2]

OCCAM'S RAZOR  – and our objection to it! Or rather, our objection to the use-abuse of it, whereby shaky logicians, some psychic research men and most would-be poisoners of them, cut their own jugulars. We mean the principle of pious parsimony, or one cause for one effect if one's enough. Causes are not to be multiplied without reason - if you believe in the weather bureau don't think up stories about Zeus and his sieve. And if green apples cause stomach aches, all stomach aches are caused by green apples. We don't-dare-denigrate so holy a principle, but we denigrate the silly apple-application of it. A contrasting, equally important principle is, that identical effects come from a wide variety of causes. Stomach-aches, for example! Dreams! Mistakes in adding! Apples falling from trees or not falling! Illusions and delusions! Even the sancta simplicitas of Science, carrying fact-faggots for its own act-of-faith.

The universe, we think, is a huge tangle of string, but all in one piece. Begin to pull on it anywhere, eventually you pull in all of it. One good tug, and the whole web stirs. Economy of causes is a fine working principle, but also a little shoddy invention of ours, for the covering of ignorance. The fig leaf is the symbol for it. And spirit raps are caused by toe-joints, sometimes, and levitations by threads and hooks; therefore all rappings and floatings are produced in that same way. Magicians do strange things with mirrors - so no ghosts walk; they are all frauds; if you think smart men in high places don't argue like that, read them and weep. There are 52 fraudulent methods for direct writing, so it's never genuine. That's economy of causes!

Well, our belief is that man is a creature of two worlds, maybe of three or four; his feet are glued fast to this mud-ball but his head sticks upward toward the stars -- sticks up into a sea of air, scores of miles deep, so he's a deep-sea fish if ever there was one. At the bottom of the sea he paddles about, sees, hears, tastes, smells, touches a few things, gets quite self-important about what he learns; but that's only part of it. Actually, he's a Flibbertigibbet with a long string attached, and goes out night-wandering in astral bodies, etheric and mind-stuff bodies, and God knows what else. He gets out in meditation too, by self-hypnosis, hetero-hypnosis, doors of the Tattvas, doors of anything he chooses. He's an incarnate spirit, for a while at least, but keeps popping in and out of his earth-burrow, body-burrow, like an enchanted rabbit. He's not at all the one-ring performer, one-world walker his dim day-wittedness makes him believe - and the proof of it is to be had for the price thereof.

All this is to say, that spirits incarnate and excarnate can do the same things, very often; powers overlap as surely as worlds interpenetrate. When it comes to little stunts like table-tipping, trumpet banging, thought-reading, ouija-writing, Belshazzar-soaring, spirits excarnate can do it, but incarnate ones too. Some spiritualists, psychic research men also, never seem to learn this; anti-spiritualists make great capital of it. Produce ectoplasmic forms or upset furniture, they say, by hypnosis, then no ghosts are needed and spiritism is done for. Or, if a peanut and a camel both have humps, they're the same thing. That's where we get back to the Occam Razor suicide, or the argument that all ghosts hang on clothes lines and all poltergeists are ill-bred brats.

[3]

-- FIRE OVER ALMERIA --

Happenings (seemingly well verified) which would have delighted the heart of Charles Fort are reported from the province of Almeria, Spain, town of La Roya, and Mr E.C. Krieger (Indiana) sends us the data. It was taken from the Cinn. Timestar of July 10, 1945. Since the 16th of June last, something has set fire to the clothing of more than 30 farm workers, and of women and children.

About 300 fires started without visible cause, burning walls of buildings, threshing-bin floors, other objects. In every case, the objects affected have been WHITE. "One report said that about July 5 a great brown column of whirling wind of a luminous brown color struck a small settlement with a violent roar and kindled flames which leaped 30 feet high. . ." Investigation showed that peasants have been injured, walls of farm houses, barns and laundry laid out in the fields to dry, have mysteriously begun to blaze on hot days.

Several "scientists", in the Madrid press, offered conjectures about St. Elmo's fire; other theories (as always) referred to "underground mineral deposits," and the Director of the National Geographic Institute for Spain "noted that the land is a particularly good conductor of electricity..." Continuing in the same happy vein, Mr Krieger quotes from the Indianapolis News of 7-11-45, date line of Queretaro, Mexico: strange cigar-shaped balloon exploded at "considerable height" over Cadareyta de Montes, Monday afternoon (July 9); it was thought to be Japanese. Mr Krieger remarks that all Jap Balloons heretofore reported have been spherical.

Our guess, in a Fortean spirit, is that the Japs heard about the cigar shortage, sent the "cigar-shaped" balloon in a spirit of derision, only it drifted too far south.

It's just as good comment, at that, as the twaddle about St Elmo's Fire, mineral deposits, and extra-good conductivity of La Roye subsoil. The last two, at any rate, have always been there; and presumably white paint on barns, and white shirts on clothes lines after wash day, have been known for some decades past. Finally, on July 5th, 1945, the minerals, the white paint, and the laundry got together, called down Fire from heaven, in the shape of a "brown column of wind, roaring, luminous and whirling" that ignited where it struck. What, if anything, is anybody's orthodoxy to do about that? Imprimis, it didn't happen (and we can't prove that it did, at this moment); secundus, it was white paint, fresh wash, and St Elmo -- because these are acceptable and familiar, and a luminous wind isn't. But what's the use!! . . . . . .

Our comment is, that since the books-full of similar and worse happenings have been collected (facts damned by orthodoxy, blasphemies against the orderliness of Nature), this story from ALMERIA isn't improbable, even if it isn't true. And that it probably is true, because of the jackassical explanations of it. And that even newspapers tell the truth if it's sensational enough. And that events are not unimportant because they are unexplainable, or important either. And that, (next to running a laundry in Almeria), maybe cocksureness and indifference invite whirlwinds most of all.

[4]

MYSTERIES OF THE ALTITUDES

Unofficial American altitude record, new 44,940 feet. Set by a P-38 Lightning Plane, July 1945. World record is 56,046 feet, set by an Italian Caproni in 1938. There are sound and sane reasons for taking an interest in such feats, and others that are maybe only half sane; one of the latter is a suspicion that somebody, some day, may find something, maybe land on something overhead ---

And unless the newspapers are lying with unusual consistency, the Germans had a pleasant little scheme well worked out on paper, for fortresses hanging in the ether, 400-500 miles up. That seems to mean, a gravity shield, or counteraction or else something wrong with gravitational formulae. Well, a brick weighs nothing at the earth's center, then develops a maximum weight, then gets lighter the higher it goes. "Far out in space," says Professor N.H.B., "its weight becomes negligible again." We want to know how far.

Things that have fallen from the sky - "pollen" that wasn't pollen, black rain, black snow, "pumice," "slag", red rain, mud-rain, blood-like rain, hailstones that are red, blue or gray; thick, viscous, red, putrid matter; stuff like soft soap and like fungi, dry fish, stuff like beef, dried frog spawn (maybe), jelly-fish, frogs, worms, black leaf-like masses, white fibrous stuff, combustible yellow stuff, "stinking matter" like butter or grease, hail with turpentine, hail with nitric acid, ashes, grain of unknown variety, burning sulphur, limestone, sandstone, salt water, salt crystals; stuff like cinders, coke or charcoal; bituminous matter (sometimes burning), fossils in meteorites, toads, live fish, dead fish, alabaster, turtles, snails, mussels, snakes, ants the size of wasps, beetles, larvae, "manufactured" stone axes (wedges), stones in ice, frogs in ice, huge masses of ice 20 feet in circumference, metallic objects or fragments, masses of leaves, germinating seeds - -

We collected most of that from Charles Fort, of course (The Book of the Damned is a must book for grown-ups). But his super-Sargasso sea and floating fields of ice fit in with what we have been talking about. Our suspicion is, that anything that gets a few hundred miles up (maybe closer) may stay there. Double the distance between two objects (say the text books) and the attraction is reduced to a quarter, and three times the distance reduces it to a ninth - or, how high does the brick go before it begins to float?

For good measure and while we think of it, and if you're under the hypnosis of astronomical mathematics, turn through Thomas Graydon's New Laws for Natural Phenomena (Christopher Publishing House, Boston). Incidentally, we're science-worshippers ourselves, but that means we're deeply suspicious of scientists - that is, of orthodox acceptances, dogmatism and credulities plastered with plausibilities. But there are a few who, like Huxley, are "too sceptical to disbelieve anything", and we genuflect when we think about them.

The PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY is a curious and precise allegory -- for the portrait of Dorian write instead, the astral body of man -- that body wherein every thought and act is faithfully mirrored -- or say instead, the symbol of the Threshold Dweller, the true self in whose beholding each comes to his Day of Judgment.

[5]

COMMENTS FROM READERS

(V-G's and Various)

Vitality globules (spiritons) continue to interest a number of our readers:

(The editor recurs to his suggestion that actual particles of a mass ray (perhaps solar) may be at the bottom of the phenomenon, and that these produce a track or ionization which is visible.)

We have an enquiry about the medium FRANCIS (not John) SLATER, and about a manuscript by him, published after his death. Can anyone help out on this?

[6]

COMMENTS FROM READERS etc. (contd.)

Finally, ask the librarians to help you; that's their business and they're usually expert at it . . . Our addition to the above is, get any book dealer to advertise for the book wanted, in THE WANT LIST, The Book Trade Weekly, published at 95 Broad St. New York, 4, N.Y. This has about 70 pages, charges 10¢ a line, goes to practically the whole trade, but only dealers who are subscribers can advertise in it - so ask some dealer to act for you . . . And many thanks to Miss Brown --

Mrs Graham (N.M.) points out that recent NON-clairvoyant studies of the aura reveal exactly the characteristics heretofore described by clairvoyant vision. That's important, and a real set-back for critics who think all clairvoyance is poppycock. She also makes a practise of looking closely at all photographs, whether originals or reprinted in periodicals , and sometimes finds hints that "the camera has picked up something" beyond expected results. We recommend this to everyone, and especially to amateurs developing their own films. We find things when we look for them, usually - and many a "psychic" photograph has come out (or gone out) in the wash because of our indifference only.

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Concerning Occult books. Bibliographical Manual of Psychical and Occult Sciences is published in Three Volumes, of 600 pages each; it gives title and subject-matter of about 12,000 volumes in print in 1912 ~ and it is estimated that the present number must be about 20,000.

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[7]

**

** HOW DO WE KNOW? **

**

A reader who has sent us many helpful suggestions, Mr. Jack Tate (Ky.), writes approvingly of our July issue, and also raises several points about the Cayce clairvoyance. Mr Tate was a personal friend of Edgar Cayce, and had exceptional opportunities for study. He makes the comment that the readings are partly "orthodox" in viewpoint; and with respect to Jesus they affirm his virgin birth, as well as the fact that he was one among many incarnations of the Christ soul. Now, the clairvoyance of A.J. Davis was closely similar to that of Cayce, yet the former held that Jesus was not divine in any special sense, though of course a great teacher and Illuminate. This says, Mr Tate, is only one out of a number of important discrepancies - and what are we to make of them, on the assumption that the same common fund of knowledge or facts (Akashic Records, or Screen) was tapped by both clairvoyants?

We can easily understand that any clairvoyant may have only limited access to the Records, and obtain only specialized information, but we would not expect such alleged information to be contradictory on questions of fact. Information coming from excarnate Beings, even of high order, might conceivably be inconsistent on many points, but the "Memory of Nature" is of the order of a natural phenomenon; if it is interrogated about the Virgin birth, or (say) the existence of Atlantis, we do not expect to receive both Yes and No - provided the question is not ambiguous. There is an odd reference, in one of the readings, to a "new Keeper of the Records". Are we to infer that all clairvoyant data of this type comes through some excarnate Being - some Keeper or Intermediary who may perhaps select, or interject, or in some way modify the supposed facts, perhaps in adjustment to our earth-consciousness, group or race consciousness, or other indeterminate conditions? Mr Tate raises most of these points - we can only summarize his letter - and adds that "new ideas, formulas, treatments could not be revealed by Cayce (apparently) until they had come into existence in some earth mind - tho' perhaps not yet made public."

We think these questions are very important, though we don't feel qualified to make much comment. It's not clear, for instance, how far the Cayce Readings are believed to derive from the Akashic Records, and how far from the unconscious (super or sub-consciousness) of the subject, or of other here-living persons, or from excarnate personalities. Maybe, in the mechanism of these processes they reduce to the same thing. Maybe if I add two plus two and get five, this error instantly goes into the Records, remains there along with 2 plus 2 equals 4 - and that clairvoyance or telepathy always operates via the Records, so to speak - not direct from the personal mentation - - - - There is every evidence of personal rapport between minds, on both the conscious and subconscious levels; but when it comes to dealing with (e.g.) the historicity of Atlantis or the Virgin Birth - what source is being used? Is there any reason to suppose that errors are somehow excluded or lost? And if not, how are they screened out? Does some selective consciousness (even if an Archangel) intervene, to see that we get the truth only? These questions affect the validity of much supernormal data - and the habit of referring them to the "level" or type of contact or vision is still not an adequate solution. We should not get both Yes and No on factual questions - and if we do, it is imperative that we look for some criterion or to some still higher source of information.

We invite comment, particularly from students of the Cayce clairvoyance.

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[8]

MAY-BE USEFUL DEPT.

Our indispensable Magazine is DOUBT, the Fortean Society publication - even if Tiffany Thayer, editor, does think Ezra Pound is a great poet and that PK experiments are a new kind of crap game. What he calls his first prize item, last issue, is an appalling incident of the "spontaneous disintegration" of a carpenter in Pittsburgh; but there are pages full of other data almost equally startling.

In one sense, all the "damned" facts of the Forteans are non-profitable, because non-understandable; they are simply lusi mirabiles of Nature, fearsome but uninstructive. But then, for that very reason they must be seized upon, verified and studied -- and the more recognition of them is fatal to orthodox smugness . . . "Doubt is a beneficent demon" - and we recommend DOUBT for its redoubtable spirit, insulting manners, and profitable nosiness.

(Box 192, Grand Central Annex, New York City. $2.00, copy 25¢.)

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Mind Digest, Monthly, Paradise, Pa. Address at York, Pn. William G. Faltin, Editor. New Publication, "The magazine of self-discovery." Self-development, the higher life, esoteric wisdom, factual articles on psychic and occult subjects, a number of well-known contributors. Probably the best thing of its kind new published, About 100 pages, $2.50 - 25¢ each.

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Occult Review. Rider & Co., 37 Bedford Square, London, W.C. 1. Quarterly. Reduced in size and price. About 100 pages; valuable to anyone interested in occult subjects, and for book announcements, 4s/6d per year (send foreign money order through Post Office. 4/6 plus cost of M.O. comes to $1.01).

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The Contemporary Jewish Record is ably edited, its contributors for the most part men of recognized scholarship, its subject matter usually of general interest. Published by the American Jewish Committee, every two months. 386 - 4th Ave. N.Y. 16, $2.00 - 40¢ each.

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Theosophical Forum. Theosophical University Press, Covina, Calif. $2.00 - 20¢ each.

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Theosophy. Pub. by the Theosophy Co. 245 W. 33rd Street, LOS ANGELES, 7. $3.00 - 35¢ ea.

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[9]

National Spiritualist Monthly. 765 Oakwood Blvd. Chicago, 15, Ill. Carries a Book List $1.00 - 10¢ each.

Aum: The Spiritual Magazine. Quarterly. 3612 Foothill Blvd. Highway Highlands, Cal. $1.25 - 35¢ each.

East-West. Quarterly. 5880 San Rafael Ave., Los Angeles, 51, California. $1.00 - 25¢.

Popular Astronomy for June '45 has a sketch of the life and work of Sir Arthur Eddington (1882-1944) . . . Also, biographical sketch of Frederick Slocum (d.1944) . . . The laws of Nature, said Eddington in effect, are laws of thought; they are derivable from the necessary conditions of thinking, and not merely from observation and experiment. He put forward, too, the idea of the universal "interstellar cloud", filling in all space . . . tried to integrate the concepts of Planck with those of Einstein, believed in a theoretical synthesis of all knowledge into a single system of ideas . . . Thinking of this sort should commend the respect of esotericists, especially since most scientists view it with suspicion and dislike.

Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR), 40 - E. 34th St., New York, 16, N .Y. Quarterly. $5.00 - $1.50 each. Authoritative, rather technical.

Journal of Parapsychology. Duke University Press, Durham, No. Carol. Quarterly. $4.00 - $1.00 each. Dr. J.B. Rhine, Editor. Authoritative and technical.

[10]

This is the TRUE STORY OF MR ROBERTS - strange story, and not happy.

Mr Roberts walks down a street in Santa Barbara, and a three-year old child, a little girl, comes rushing toward him, puts arms around his knees and calls him "Papa"; clings and cries and resists her mother, does not want to leave Papa again - but away she must go nevertheless - -

And Mr Roberts, embarrassed, perplexed, somewhat distressed by all this, tells his friend "X"; then the two of them, at the child's home all one sunny afternoon, put questions to her. Well, she tells about the house she lived in, with "Papa" Roberts and her "other mama", and about the flowers, the brook with a plank across it, and the pussy willows. Then Papa went away, never came back; after a while Mama lay down and died. "And I died too, only I didn't die I came here."

Comes new the melancholy complement, Mr Robert's own tale -- how he and his new-won bride set sail from England, and come to Australia, and in the hinterland founded a home, a cabin beside a brook, crossed by a plank, where pussy willows grew -- and the home where his girl child was born.

Then one day, away from his house, he is seized by officers, charged with a crime committed on the night he left London, not allowed to see his wife and child, but hurried aboard ship and off to England - there to be tried and in due time acquitted of all blame. Then and then only will they listen to his tale of wife and child, and search for them, and find them dead of starvation in the wilderness. Broken-hearted, he comes to America, comes to Santa Barbara, where a little girl runs to him on the street and calls him her "Papa".

So, they bring photographs, of himself in long-past years (and now he is greatly changed) and of his wife, and mix these in with many others. But little Miss Three-Year-Old picks them out at once with shouts of delight - her Papa and her "first Mama". And all that she has to tell of them and that past life is like echo and child-copy of Mr Robert's own sad memories.

This tale is told by Max Heindel (see "Cosmo-Conception", 1st ed., p. 172), and quoted by Dr P.S. Haley in his Guide to the Psychic Life, and it is said that the Los Angeles Times investigated all the facts, and found them to be as represented. Such stories, of the spontaneous recovery of memories (or so it seems), of course form part of the evidence for reincarnation - or at least are formidably to be reckoned with, by whoever chooses to unriddle the mystery of their meaning.

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[11]

EXCURSUS PHILOSOPHICUS

The dilemma of the intellect comes to this; our minds are so constituted that we must think along lines of cause and effect, in the category of causation; but when in our effort to "explain" the world we trace this chain of causation backward, we find ourselves committed either to an infinite regress, or to a "first cause". But such a regress is no solution of our difficulty, and the idea of a first cause is a denial or abandonment of the causation principle. It affirms that which is uncaused hence something which is irrational, or a-rational. The intellect can neither dispense with a first cause, nor accept it, but comes, as it were, to the end of its road.

Philosophers have long perceived that it is impossible to attach any kind of quality to the "Absolute"; on the other hand it is impossible to conceive of motion and manifestation in an Absolute which is without quality; and this is another way of stating the dilemma referred to. At the same time, it is difficult to understand why "pure being" is a more basic concept, or a simpler one, than "pure dynamism" - if either expression has any real intellectual content.

More explicitly than any other school of thought, the Qabalists recognized this dilemma and set forth our sole recourse. Let us "draw the veil" at the point where the rational intellect can first function, with the primitive dynamism, first movement, activity or manifestation. Behind this Veil is the Not-Nothing, the That-of-Which-Naught-Can-Be-Said. But for our individual minds this Veil is not fixed, since consciousness can be expanded both by rational knowledge and mystical experience. Each of us draws the Veil at the limit of his own capacity.

God is pressure, is the saying of the Qabalists; and if this at first seems baffling to the intellect, nevertheless it yields much to meditation. Most admirable, too, is the symbol under which this teaching is set forth. It is the head of an ancient and bearded King, which is seen in profile only, Now, the visible side of the face is God-Manifest - and its existence implies the invisible side also, tho' the eye of man cannot see this nor his intellect understand. And a King is a symbol of power and authority, and of the source of these.

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The question, Do you believe in God, is often uttered even by intelligent people - as if everyone's idea of God were exactly the same and a yes or no was possible. What the question really means, of course, is Do you believe in the same God that I do?

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"Evolution" which is not directional has no meaning, but directional change introduces an element corresponding to a moral order, to "rightness" and "goodness". It also introduces Evil, because the evolving thing is imperfect, and its imperfection is an active hindrance also. The existence of evil, it seems to us, is inseparable from the idea of an evolving cosmos.

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[12]

ALREUTZ WILL BOARD

(Psycho-Kinetics for the Amateur)

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Pressures up to four ounces have been persistently claimed by experimenters with this device; for all that, it's regarded with a dubious eye by PR workers. We think maybe it works some-times for some people, like planchettes and ouija boards - and we don't demand of PK effects, that they be invariable for everybody. Some one should experiment exhaustively, with many subjects; if results follow with even one person, work up the case carefully and make a report.

The apparatus is really nothing more than a light board, in near-balance on a straight-edge, with the down-end hooked to the pan of a letter scale (postal scale) so as to register about five ounces of its weight. Use a board about 20 inches long by ¾ inches thick, then shove it forward until the front end (far end) dips down with a 5 ounce pressure. Hook this front end to the scale pan. Cut a groove for the straight-edge to rest in, to prevent slipping sideways.

You then have an arrangement by which down pressure on the far end will register on the scale, while pressure on the near end will decrease the scale reading by lifting the weight. The whole thing should be fairly stable, not too sensitive. Rest your finger tips on the near end of the board, fix your gaze on the far end, and will it to go down. Imagine that you are exerting pressure by your gaze. Have some one else watch the scale, and try it for 2-3 minutes at a time. Get as many people as you can to try it. If you find any one person, or any combination of two or more persons working at the same time, that can get results - and if the results can be repeated - you have something worth study and report.

Try different arrangements with this. Make the adjustments as delicate as you can and try it without touching the near end of the board at all. Get several people to try to force the board down mentally, at the same time. It may be a question of finding the "right" operator. It would be easy to arrange electrical contacts, with a light or buzzer, that would show even the faintest movement. There is some reason to believe that energy of this kind registers best against fairly large surfaces - and a great variety of apparatus could be set up. A mirror spot-light thrown on a scale at a little distance makes a very sensitive indicator. It is not clear why Kreutz thought it useful to hold the fingers on the near end of the board, but if some emanation through the hands is involved, it should be possible to ascertain the fact.

What is wanted, of course, is objective, instrumental registration of PK effects; and genuine results from some such apparatus as has been described would in many ways be easier to work with than the dice-throwing experiments of Duke University experimenters.

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[13]

*** A. R. E. ACTIVITIES ***

The Report or Bulletin Supplement covering the 14th Annual Congress of the A.R.E. (Assoc. for Research and Enlightenment) at Virginia Beach, Florida, is at hand. It comes so late that we can't take time to organize what we would like to say, but simply turn through its thirty-odd pages for a few extracts.

This Association, of course, carries on with studies and material accumulated by the late Edgar Cayce during some forty years of clairvoyant communications.

"How can psychic information be secured, or psychic abilities developed?" This question was once put to the trance personality, and the reply advised the study of Tertium Organum, Law of Psychic Phenomena, and Varieties of Religious Experience (page 3).

At the time of Cayce's death, in January last, 1040 appointments for readings had been scheduled . . . There are 525 members who receive Association periodicals . . . more than half of the ARE membership have never received personal readings . . . there are some 50,000 readings to be indexed and studied . . . Dr W.T. Bidwell (of Greenville, S.C.) made remarks on the use of pendula in diagnosis; considered the device useful (p.10).

Side comments made by Cayce at the beginning of a clairvoyant trance were often interesting, and show the clarity with which he perceived both the subject and the environment. For example:

"Kinda snowy" (for a woman in Canada).
"It's a busy place" (for men working in navy yard).
"Florida - pretty rough wind this morning".
"The body is just leaving, going down in the elevator" (N.Y. Bldg.).
"Winterhur, Switzerland - isn't it pretty! Nice stream!"
"Unusual halls! Funny looking paintings!" (N.Y. Apt. Bldg.).
"Yes, Penn St., Denver. We can see the dome from here."

"A reading once contained what seemed like the wildly rash statement, that three-fourths of the people in insane asylums might be living normal lives if they were carefully and thoroughly treated osteopathically. However, there are many individual osteopaths who have no idea how to proceed with such treatments." (p. 12, Bul. Sup.)

The 1945-46 Program includes the headings of (1) Experimental Research, including cooperative work with physicians. (2) Documentary Research. (15) Publication of Research Findings. There's a proposed research fund of $50,000; General Operations $28,520: total budget $62,100.

From the WEEKLY READING EXTRACTS (July 27, '45):

If we stopped to reflect, says the Extracts editor, that a great candid camera is taking moving pictures of our every thought and act, we might begin to improve in grace. "The Akashic Record is to the mental world as the cinema is to the materiel -- one only turns to these records to read what was built or lost" (Reading 275-L-2).

[14]

THE MEDIUMSHIP OF MIRABELLI

(Continued)

(The July issue described the work of Mirabelli as a speaking and writing medium, as well as various grotesque telekinetic phenomena. We continue here with LEVITATION, APPORTS, and MATERIALIZATION)

"At a well-attended seance in Sao Vicente the following things happened" in full light and under close observation of numerous witnesses. The chair and medium seated in it were suddenly moved, and rose "several centimeters" from the floor. It continued to rise slowly, and "reached an elevation of two meters above the floor" (more than six feet); it floated to and fro for 120 seconds. The medium was all the time in trance and speaking "with different spirit beings", and on awakening he could recall nothing of what had happened.

"A revolver locked in a trunk was apported from one residence to another, after an announcement that this would be done. A picture was apported in broad daylight over several kilometers into the office of an Insurance company, where it fell to the floor with a crash, causing immense excitement" (as well it might) "On another occasion, Mirabelli was at the da Luz railroad station with several companions. . . when he suddenly vanished. Fifteen minutes later a telephone message from Sao Vicente 90 kilometers away, stated that the medium was present there exactly two minutes after he disappeared from da Luz."

On another occasion "at a seance attended by many scientists, Mirabelli vanished without loosening the cords with which he was bound or disturbing the seals on the doors and windows. He was found lying in a trance on a sofa in an adjoining room, singing a hymn."

"The materializations produced by Mirabelli" (says Greber) "are the most marvelous exhibitions of the incarnation of spirits witnessed in modern times." What follows happened at a seance in a laboratory at Santos; it was attended by "many people of note" and is attested "by the signatures of 10 men holding degrees of Doctor of Science." The time was 10 o'clock in the morning, full daylight, and there was a rigorous pre-examination of the room.

Mirabelli fell into deep trance, with convulsive movements. Suddenly there were three sharp raps, and a child's voice cried out: "Papa!" Dr Ganymedde de Sousa thought that he recognized the voice of his little daughter, recently deceased. "Presently the shape of a girl appeared beside the medium; the father spoke to her, went close and folded her in his arms. He assured everyone that it was his daughter, and that she was wearing the dress in which she had been buried."

Col. Octavio Viana then took the child in his arms, felt her pulse and looked into her eyes, which were "deep and fathomless"; he asked her several questions which she answered rationally, altho in sad monotones. De Sousa recalled several childhood incidents, and received rational replies showing that the reference was understood.

"The apparition was then photographed, and a copy of the picture was appended to the report of the investigating committee."

After the picture had been taken "the child began to soar about the room, rising into the air and plunging about like a fish in its native element . . . The medium imitated the child's movements with his fore-arms. She floated about in the air a few seconds longer, then disappeared all of a sudden, after having shown herself for thirty-six minutes by daylight to a gathering of educated men, who testified that [15] they saw before them a perfectly formed human being."

The medium continued to tremble for some time after this, and to show signs of exhaustion. Soon, however, violent blows were heard in a cupboard where a skull was kept. The skull was being hurled about inside. Suddenly the doors of the cupboard swung open "of their own accord, and out shot the skull, rising into the air and chattering its teeth hideously. Dr de Sousa was wondering to himself why the rest of the skeleton did not appear, when the vertebrae of the neck began to form, followed by bones of the chest and arms, the spinal column, the pelvic arch, the legs, and finally the feet, complete to the last bone. The medium, whose arms were being held, emitted a mass of frothy saliva, and tried to strike himself. All his arteries seemed filled to bursting and throbbed violently, and his body diffused a sickening, corpse-like odour . . . ."

"The skeleton now got up on its feet and began to walk about the room with long, unsteady strides, sometimes seeming in danger of falling, but always regaining its balance. To assure himself that what he saw was real, Dr de Sousa touched the apparition and tapped its greasy bones. As he did so, he received a nervous shock, and returned to his seat . . . The medium was held in his chair with difficulty . . . other participants got up one by one to touch this personification of death and nothingness . . . Then the skeleton began to disintegrate, commencing at the feet, until nothing was left but the skull, which continued to float in the air for some time, tho its teeth had ceased to chatter."

"All this occurred at 9:45 a.m. by bright sunlight, under exacting conditions and in the presence of numerous cultured persons, and extended over a period of 22 minutes."

After this the medium declared that the deceased Bishop Jose de Camargo Barros was in the room; he entered trance, and there was a strange odor of roses. "Suddenly there appeared a fine mist, which parted, became denser, gleaming like a golden cloud - and out of it there gradually emerged a smiling apparition nearing the Episcopal biretta and clad in the full insignia of office." It announced its name (as given above), and Dr de Sousa stepped up to it, tapped its body and teeth, felt of its gums for saliva, listened to the heart action and breathing, applied his ear to the abdomen, looked at the finger-nails and eyeballs, with particular attention to the voinlets. "Other witnesses followed his example, and all were convinced of its human-like nature. The Bishop conversed in well-spoken Portuguese, and finally said "Now watch me closely as I disappear." He then put his hands on Mirabelli's head, while all the watchers gathered closely around. The Bishop's body contracted spasmodically several times and began to grow dim and decrease in size. When it was about 30 centimeters in height (12 inches) it disappeared suddenly, leaving an odor of roses. "Mirabelli slowly regained consciousness."

(All sources for this material have been itemized in the June and July issues, and will be again noted in the September issue, with which the series will be concluded.)

* * * * *

[16]

THE DAVIS ANNIVERSARY

* * * *

August 11 is the 120th anniversary of' the birth of ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS, and Psychic Observer prints what it describes as a "complete account of his birth, early life, and entire earthly career." It's a highly sympathetic and laudatory account, of course, and so far we are pleased with it. Equally of course, it's not what one would call scholarly or critical in spirit, and is somewhat disappointing in that it sheds little light on Davis' later years, from about 1885 on.

In Thomas Sugrue's excellent book, THERE IS A RIVER, there is some discussion of Davis. High Lynn tells Cayce (p.340) that there's no record of him after the publication of Principles of Nature in 1845. "The study group has been trying to find further trace of Andrew and hasn't even uncovered the fact that he died." That's only a casual comment, but it set us to looking up A.J.D. for ourselves, and we passed the "study group" by a lap or two, anyway. Nothing at all in the Britannica, nor in the Americana - but an article in the Dictionary of American Biography. It gives his dates as 1826 to 1910, but has nothing to say about him after 1885, except to note his death.

The Psychic Observer article tells us that Davis took a medical degree (M.D.) when "nearly sixty years old" - that is, about 1885, and that he practiced medicine, using clairvoyant diagnosis (apparently without trance) for some years thereafter. The preceding 35 years had been a time of great productivity - some 26 works in all, plus innumerable diagnoses and prescriptions, and the Great Harmonia alone contains nearly 800 closely printed pages, ran thru 54 editions in less than 50 years - but then all this seems to have come to an abrupt close. We're curious about this transition, and the why's and wherefore's of it. There's a 25 year period, apparently of health and quiet life, but no writing and no particular activity in psychic or spiritistic matters - so far as we can find out.

Going back to the article in the A.B, Dictionary - it gives the following sources: The Magic Staff (autobiography), 1857; Beyond the Valley (sequel), 1885; E.C. Hartmann, Who's Who in Occultism, 1827; G.B. Butt in Occult Review, March 1925; T.B. Pickens and W.H Evans articles in Light for 1825 and 1926; Frank Podmore, Modern Spiritualism, 2 vols., 1902. The A.B. Dictionary article we are quoting was written by Dr Herbert Schneider (Columbia University) and Ruth Redfield.

The only one of these available to us was Podmore; there are four references to Davis in Vol. 2, and 18 consecutive pages plus a half-a-dozen references in Vol. 1. This account is critical but seems fair and well-balanced. Podmore points out that it is impossible to estimate the true amount of Davis' reading - which might have influenced the trance communications - and also that the communications were edited to some extent by Dr Lyon and Rev. Fisbaugh, both men of education. But he also remarks on the great mass of the material produced, finds the philosophy coherent, the literary quality often very good, and the science dubious. He says there is no direct plagiarism, and no reason to doubt the good faith of all concerned.

That's what one calls high praise, or being popular with Podmore. He was probably the most feared-and-formidable critic of modern spiritualism, but an honest man for all that, and should be rated an indirect benefactor of the spiritualist movement.

[17]

It is interesting, too, to note Podmore's comments on the relation of Davis to spiritualism; he says that Davis was NOT closely identified with it, and in fact regarded the Hydesville phenomena and similar occurrences with a certain canny reserve. Yet he was certainly a spiritualist in the broad sense of the word, of believing in the survival of the personality and in spirit communication with earth-dwellers. And he was a conspicuous literary figure, or at the very least a literary and psychological phenomenon of the first order, not incomparable with Swedenborg in this respect. His works remained in high repute and his personal reputation is unblemished. Yet the last quarter century of his life is obscure, and his fame fell into long eclipse. During the last decade or so there has been a marked revival of interest in both his personality and his teachings.

* * *

What is to be said about such men as Davis, and Edgar Cayce, and Swedenborg - to name these three only, from a much longer list? So far as our boasted "modern science" is concerned, to put the matter bluntly, it has not a single in intelligent syllable to offer. (Of course, we know it's "extra-scientific", but it shouldn't be). Neither has orthodox religionism. No pulpit comments on these facts, no theologian grasps them boldly. The Shepherds of the Flock are silent - but it is their business to speak, and to understand, and to guide. The curse of man is life-long hypnosis, the veil of Maya, the enduring dream. Religion should awaken him - but it only drugs him the deeper. But for all that ---

For all that --- there is a stir and an awakening. There are millions who already understand that "there is knowledge to be had which Church and schools do not offer, things to be said which they do not say, facts to be reckoned with of which they take no account - a hope which is grounded in facts, and a conviction not rooted in dogma. For good or ill, the veil between the worlds grows thinner, the ancient wisdom stirs and wakens - not only in the great clairvoyants, but among common folk everywhere. Whether we fear or desire, welcome or hate this thing, it makes no difference save to our individual selves. It is a social phenomenon, a stage of evolution, or the will of God - as you prefer the phrase - but it is ineluctable and must be reckoned with.

Venit Summa dies - and the unavoidable time!

* * *

What some folks think of us:

NEW PAPER

N-M-L, "long-time member, has started a mimeographed Bulletin of Contact and Information for Students of Psychic Research and Parapsychology. It is called the ROUND ROBIN, and it speaks highly of us. It also speaks highly of 'the Creator', asserting that 'We believe every fact is a child of God.' Don't let that scare you away. There's meat on that Robin. Send N-M-L a dollar for five issues . . . ."

(Tiffany Thayer, in DOUBT)

Our thanks (anyway) to editor T. (N) T.

[18]

*** THE "REPARATION" OF MR DeFORD ***

----o----

A REPARATION is a 62-page booklet, now in its 3rd (revised) edition, by C.S. DeFord (Fairfield, Wash.), and offered for sale by the Fortean Society. The full title page is as follows - and it intrigues us considerably:

A REPARATION
Universal Gravitation
a Universal Fake
The Earth an Outstretched
Plane
Sun, Moon and Stars Small Bodies
Near the Earth
Astronomical and Scientific
Evidence
The Einstein Theory Refuted

We select certain tidbits, offer a few parentheses of our own, and will hold hat and coat for anybody, maybe go through the pockets too. And first concerning the shape and motion of the earth; Consider (says the author in effect) that this straight line represents the surface of the earth, and that you are standing at U (which is anywhere) and looking at the Sun:

And assume for the sake of argument that the Sun is moving (rather than the earth), and passing overhead parallel to the earth's surface. We hope you will remember that parallel lines always seem to converge. The farther away the sun gets, the lower it will appear to be. An airplane in level flight seems to approach the horizon; the principle is merely that of perspective. Point here is, that sunrise and sunset do NOT prove that the earth rotates. Maybe it's flat and motionless, and the sun revolves about it at a uniform distance.

Then, here's Old Faithful, the text book argument (which any school boy should be able to refute) - about the hull of a ship disappearing first, mast-top last. Well now, the top line of vision goes from eye to mast-top, and the bottom line from eye to where hull meets water. And say that the straight line of vision, the horizon line, strikes the ship 10 feet above water level, like this:

As this ship recedes, line 1 will fall to become line 2, and line 3 will rise to become line 4. The angle made by the rays entering the eye grows smaller, so the object looks smaller - or perspective again. And the hull disappears first, please note, simply because there was only about 10 feet of it, as compared with 40 or 50 feet from horizon line to mast head. It's simply a matter of the smaller object disappearing first - it you divide the ship into two parts, above and below the horizon line.

To this Mr DeFord adds another devastating fact. When the ship disappears (he [19] says) take your telescope and look for it - and you'll see it quite easily. The point of that is, of course, that there's no "hill of water" caused by the curvature of the earth, which cuts off the view; if there were, the telescope wouldn't help any.

(We'll add here on our own account, that the curved shadow of the earth on the moon is also a no-good proof, if the moon is a globe. Hold up a straight-edge (ruler) so that its shadow falls on a globe, and you'll see that the shadow is curved.)

The ship and the sun and the bird and an airplane all disappear as a result of perspective; none of them prove the sphericity of the earth. And to go further with this matter of alleged curvature; the practical rule given by the text books is 8 inches for the first mile (7.935), after that 8 inches multiplied by the square of the number of miles. That's 322 feet for 22 miles, 15,000 for 150 miles, 2,015 feet for 55 miles - for examples - on a smooth globe (as if the earth were all water-covered). In dealing with land masses, there's always a chance to argue about the surface irregularities; but the surface of the sea should conform to this curvature rule. But it just doesn't - and Mr DeFord has some 17-18 pages of illustrations, observations and experiments to prove it. The argument on this point is conclusive.

For further distress of the orthodox, there's the little experiment of Mr Pertinax. This inquisitive gentleman plumbed a cannon straight up and down, and let go at the zenith. Average time the ball was in the air (repeated experiments) was 28 seconds; "several times" it fell back on the cannon's mouth, and never further from it than two feet. If the earth rotates eastward at 17 miles per minute (equatorial speed), the ball should have fallen 8 miles behind the cannon. This proves something or other, and Mr DeFord says it proves the earth was "absolutely motionless" for 28 seconds anyhow. The pertinacious Pertinax has published a book called ZETETIC ASTRONOMY, and our guess is that it's worth reading. (There's other data of a similar sort, obtained by army ordnance engineers , but it's "damned" in the Fortean sense, by a conspiracy of silence.)

Well, to leave Mr DeFord for the present, we'll add that if you really think the earth is an oblate spheroid and no question, read Edna Kenton's Book of Earths. You'll find its shape is a geode - and a geode is an earth shape - and there's a half-dozen or more theories, everything from a plane to an eight-sided solid. Incidentally, circumnavigation doesn't help much, because you can circumnavigate a plane too - and more of that anon . . . Meanwhile, the important question always is, not what you believe but why you believe it. Because the knowledge of ignorance is the beginning of wisdom, we think it worth while to raise even unanswerable questions.

( To be continued )

* * * * *

OUR SINCERE THANKS to Mrs Lotreck (Mass.); Mrs Graham (N.M.); author Thos. Sugrue (Fla); Inspector Krieger (Ind.); Mrs Hayes (Palo Alto); A.R.E. Trustee Jack Tate (Ky); Dr P.S. Haley (S.F.); P.P. Secretary Carlton Dye (San Jose); physicist Keith Hayes (Palo Alto); Astrol. Guild Pres. Elizabeth Frazer (San Diego); Dr Dorothea Frood (La Mesa); book-man Whitney Genns (San Diego); attorney Randall (Pasadena); and to others - for comments, clips, items, new subscribers, general helpfulness and cooperation.

* * * * * * *

[20]

THIS IS THE SONG OF THE SOUTH GATE HOLDER,
A SILVER MAN BUT HIS SONG IS OLDER

--o--

* * *

-THE STARS-

-oo-

-oo-

[21]

WANTED - A ROAD-BUILDER ---

We make note here of a matter which is of very great importance, and both hope-full and distressing. There have been, at various times in this country, bequests and endowments to universities for the investigation of psychic and supernormal phenomena; without exception these have been wasted, diverted or ignored. At this moment, however, in one of our large universities, there is a man who is willing and anxious to undertake scientific research into the problem of survival. He is a man of recognized ability, a department head, and probably the most competent student of the paranormal, from the rigidly scientific standpoint, in the United States.

The Program for this Research has been worked out in detail, there is a working staff and an excellent laboratory -- BUT there are no funds. $35,000 "WOULD GIVE A GOOD START" -- and there are hundreds of thousands of people who spend that much on a house or a race horse or a fur coat. Maybe there are seven people, in our 140 millions, who would contribute $5,000 apiece -- or 35 who have a $1,000.

Maybe it will occur to some people that it is difficult to endow scientific research -- there's money to be had but not enough qualified workers -- but here there's a chance. And that this is a pioneering in human knowledge that has an almost incredible future. And that, for once, a donor may serve humanity and make a name for himself at the same time. And $35,000 is small change, postage stamp money, a week's advertising bill among our broad-bellied business men, bankers, industrialists, promoters, chewing-gum-tooth-paste-vitamins exploiters, top-notch executives and go-getters generally. Or will somebody who knows how have to get this money together by popular subscription?

We don't know, but our guess is, there is 9-10,000 people in the U.S. with $5.00 to spare, AND enough vision, intelligence, and good will to contribute it to such a cause.

* * * *

* * * * *

* * * * *

[22]

ROUND ROBIN PROPOSES:

How often have we wished some good Samaritan, gifted with time, tolerance, tolerable intelligence, and the besom of brevity, would concoct for us a kind of readers digest of "occult" and "psychic" publications. We're interested in their subject matter, sometimes in what they have to say about it. Very likely a good many RR readers feel the same way.

The occasion does not seem ripe for a real digest and review of such periodicals, but a sketchy conspectus with reference to worthwhile articles might be useful. The RR has of course been doing this to some extent from the first, but has been a bit snooty about it. For instance, we note that the Bobbitt's Agency list 18 periodicals in this field, and the only one of them the RR has referred to is the Psychic Observer. Then there are about a dozen more, some of which we have taken note of, and some not.

Maybe you would like to know what these other publications are talking about. Perhaps we can't find time to read them all, or maybe can't understand them if we do, but we can give you the titles and general idea anyhow. We recall that the erudite Dr Hyslop once began a book review by saying "I haven't read this work thank God, and I never intend to read it; however . . ." and so on for a four-page critique. Not being nearly as smart as Dr H., we shall not go as far as that. We shall try to get the drift of what is going on, and you can try to get it from the RR. IF you want to.

Also we point out that the 18 publications referred to would cost $35.00 a year, if you subscribed to all of them, and the others add up to nearly as much. Not that anybody in his senses would subscribe to $70.00 worth of spiritism-psychism-occultism-parapsychologism, or could keep his wits if he did subscribe. But for all that there's many a piece of worth-while writing among all these, and students of such matters like to keep posted. Now, if you want to recommend the ROUND ROBIN to anybody, this proposed service of ours is maybe worth mentioning.

ROUND ROBIN proposes, but its readers dispose. The "real values" of the Path are not buyable at book-stands, or anywhere else, but neither do they come unsought for. To read widely and yet wisely is important, but usually difficult. Perhaps the RR can in some ways make it easier.

* * * * *

VITIC AGAIN:

"As for this Vitic thing, have you additional data available? I have a tiny horseshoe magnet and a carbon arc terminal . . . and have been trying it out on the bridge force . . . I have no galvanometer, but 10 or 15 minutes holding these objects increases the pulse from 5 to 25 beats a min. Comrade Layne suggests that one's galvanometric deflection is not particularly sensitive to auto-suggestion. As for sensible effects, the damned thing gives me a headache. Usually. Just the same, I'd try it with an electroencephalograph."

(Jack Campbell, in letter to editor of DOUBT, Spring bio.)

The editor of the RR intended to convey, that if the person holding the carbon and magnet knew nothing about purpose or possible effects of the experiment, the increased deflection of the galvanometer could hardly be due to suggestion.

This is the first intimation we have had, about any increase in the pulse rate, or about headache. Has suggestion been ruled out on these counts also?

[23]

WITH THE ROUND ROBIN
FROM
FEBRUARY TO JULY

* * * * * *

VITALITY GLOBULES (spiritons) - what are they? ... Research work of Dr Philip Haley ... SPECTRAL APPENDECTOMY in Brazil (materialized surgeon) ... Merrell-Wolff's PATHWAYS (book note) ... Collected Definitions (science, religion) ... Concerning DOUBT (Fortean Magazine) and the OCCULT REVIEW ... Eliphas Levi (quotes) ... PRECOGNITIVE TELEPATHY (comment) ... Clairvoyance of EDGAR CAYCE ... LOAVES AND FISHES (Idioplastic food creation) ... THE TREE OF LIFE (with diagram - the great Qabalistic glyph) ... Excursus

Psychologicus ... Forest Fires ... Tare and Thistles (Fortean items)... Giants in Dressing Gowns (book note) ... 1944 Weather ... Earthquakes ... Hatha Yoga ... POSTULATES OF OCCULTISM ... The "House of Mystery" ... St. Odile ... PSYCHO-PHYSICAL THEORIES (synopsis) ... ASPR Journal (comment) ... SIMPLE SIMON TEARS THINGS (daylight trumpet) ... To Our Spiritualist Friends ... Good Company (quotations) ... IS PSYCHIC

RESEARCH WORTH WHILE ... Quips and Quotes ... PK EFFECTS (psychokinesis, Duke University experiments) ... THE KLUSKI MEDIUMSHIP ... HAIL, BLITHE SPIRIT (poltergeists) ... MEET THE METEORITES (odd phenomena) ... SEANCE MEMORANDA (evidential quotes from communicators) ... Idioplastic Production of Food ... A.R.E. Activities ("Cayce Foundation") ... Flowers in May (comments from readers) ... THE GREAT SIMPLICITIES ... Bed Time Story for Adults (dogs, horses, and human ignorance) . .. Yale Review (comment) ...

Mind Digest (comment) ... WINCHESTER HOUSE ... Psychic Observer ... A Letter To The Times (Dr Reynolds on Ghosts) ... CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY (what does it mean?) ... KLUSKI MEDIUMSHIP ... MIRABELLI MEDIUMSHIP (remarkable phenomena) ... INEDIA (psychic fasting) ... "Science Meets the Supernatural" (article review) ... Poltergeister Meiber (agitations of Hon. Ralph Shirley) ... WISDOM LIBRARY (a new book service) ... Noah's Ark - Maybe (was it found on Ararat?) ... Hibbert Journal Article (Nature of

Mystical Experiences) ... ANYBODY'S HALO and How To See It (instructions for observing the aura.) ... Clairvoyance of Edgar Cayce (modus of the trance state, and explanation by the trance personality) ... THE PSYCHO-KINETIC EFFECT, AND AFTER (possible developments in telepathy research) ... PRAYER OF THE SYLPHS (L'Abbe Constant) ... The Golden String (Shall we Choose Shadow or Substance ?) ... A to Z Notes (dog story -- foo-fire -- Vitic -- peas from Tombs -- Chinese eggs -- critics and comments).

Regular features and continued articles: VITALITY GLOBULES -- RESEARCHES OF DR. HALEY (Pres. Calif. Soc. Psy. Research) -- CARBON FORCE (VITIC) (an unknown energy) -- MEDIUMSHIP OF KLUSKI AND MIRABELLI (from Munich Z.f. Parapsychologie) -- REVIEWS AND COMMENTS (on articles from ASPR JOUR., OCCULT REVIEW, JOUR. OF PARAPSYCHOLOGY (Dr Rhine's experiments), PSYCHIC OBSERVER, YALE REVIEW, HIBBERT JOUR., DOUBT (the Fortean Soc. magazine), MIND DIGEST (New publication) -- BOOK NOTES - PUBLISHING HOUSES (for occult books) -- ODDITIES -- FORTEAN ITEMS -- NOTES FROM READERS --.

(There are no BACK NUMBERS for sale, except for a few copies of Nos. 5 & 6. Single articles can sometimes he transcribed by a stenographer, at regular stenographic rates plus postage.)

* * * *

The A-Z Department will resume its place in our next month's issue; sorry it got crowded out this time.

References

1. Fort, Charles. The Book of the Damned. New York: H. Liveright, c. 1919. Print. [Reprint, 1975: "The Complete Books of Charles Fort", <http://amzn.to/WcoLLW>; Digital: <http://gutenberg.org/ebooks/22472>]
2. Graydon, Thomas H. New Laws for Natural Phenomena. Boston: Christopher Pub. House, 1938. Print. <http://amzn.to/1zKkRJy>
3. Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. <http://gutenberg.org/ebooks/174>
4. Caillet, Albert L. Manuel Bibliographique Des Sciences Psychiques Ou Occultes: Sciences Des Mages, Hermétique, Astrologie, Kabbale, Franc-Maçonnerie, Médecine Ancienne, Mesmérisme, Sorcellerie, Singularités, Aberrations De Tout Ordre, Curiosités : Sources Bibliographiques Et Documentaires Sur Ces Sujets. ["Bibliographical Manual of Psychical and Occult Sciences: The Magi Sciences, Hermetic, Astrology, Kabbalah, Freemasonry, Ancient Medicine, Mesmerism, Witchcraft, Oddities, Aberrations Of All Order Curiosities: Sources Bibliographical And Documentary On These Topics."] Paris: L. Dorbon, 1912. Print.
   — Vol. 1 (A-D); Vol. 2 (E-L); Vol. 3 (M-Z)
5. Heindel, Max. The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception; or Christian Occult Science, an elementary treatise upon man's past evolution, present constitution and future development. Seattle, Wash.: Rosicrucian Fellowship, 1909. Print. <http://amzn.to/1nlzIjy> [Digital: <http://www.rosicrucian.com/rcc/rcceng00.htm>]
6. Haley, Philip S. A Guide to the Psychic Life. Los Angeles, CA: Austin Pub. Co, 1928. Print. <http://amzn.to/1tTgUlf>
7. Sugrue, Thomas. There is a River: the Story of Edgar Cayce. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1945. Print. <http://amzn.to/1viCrC9>
8. Davis, Andrew J, and William Fishbough. The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Relations, and a Voice to Mankind. New York: S.S. Lyon and Wm. Fishbough, 1847. Print. [Digital: <https://archive.org/details/principlesnatur00fishgoog>]
9. Entry from the 1879 ed. of Francis S. Drake's "Dictionary of American Biography" <https://archive.org/details/dictionaryameri02drakgoog>, pp. 251-252, quoted in full:

   Davis, Andrew Jackson, clairvoyant, b. Blooming Grove, Orange Co., N.Y., Aug. 11, 1826. His parents were extremely poor, and his youth was passed in various labors, with but little schooling. Early in 1843, Mr. Wm. Levingston of Poughkeepsie, by mesmerism, developed in his extraordinary clairvoyant powers. He discoursed learnedly on medical, psychological, and scientific subjects, and successfully treated diseases. March 7, 1844, during a trance of 16 hours, he conversed, as he asserts, with invisible beings, and received intimations and instructions concerning the position he was subsequently to occupy as a teacher from the interior state. In Nov. 1845, he dictated to Rev. Wm. Fishbough, at New York, while clairvoyant, his first and most considerable work, "The Principles of Nature, her Divine Relations, and a Voice to Mankind," 8vo. 800pp. This book presents a wide range of subjects, and repudiates any special authority in the teachings of the Bible. He has pub. several other works under the same influence, — the "Great Harmonia", 4 vols.; the "Approaching Crisis;" the "Penetralia," 1856; the "Present Age," and "Inner Life," "Review of Dr. Bushnell on Supernaturalism;" "Philosophy of Spiritual Intercourse," 8 vo., 1854; "Harmonial Man," 8 vo. He is more successful as a writer than as a lecturer, and has been principally instrumental in inaugurating the modern movement known as "Spiritualism" — See the Magic Staff, an Autobiog. of A.J. Davis, 1857.

   A later index of the same, Vol. 105, gives Davis's dates as Aug. 11, 1826 - Jan. 13, 1910. Addition books in his bibliography include: "The Harbinger of Health" (1862); "Appetites and Passions" (Boston, 1863); "The World's True Redeemer" (1863): "Principles of Nature" (2d ed., 1863); "Morning Lectures" (1865); "Tale of a Physician" (1867); "Stellar Key to the Summer Land" (1867); "Arabula, or the Divine Guest" (1867); "Memoranda of Persons Places, and Events" (1868); "The Fountain, with New Jets of Meaning" (1870); "Mental Diseases and Disorders of the Brain" (1871); "Beyond the Valley", second autobiography (1885). Explore this fuller biography for additional details about Davis and his life: "Andrew Jackson Davis" (spiritwritings.com)
   
   
10. DeFord, C.S. A Reparation. Universal Gravitation a Universal Fake. the Earth an Outstretched Plane. Sun, Moon and Stars Small Bodies Near the Earth. Astronomical, Scientific and Biblical Evidence. Fairfield, Wash, 19??. Print. <http://amzn.to/1oz3FOv>
11. Parallax [Samuel Birley Rowbotham]. Zetetic Astronomy: a Description of Several Experiments Which Prove That the Surface of the Sea Is a Perfect Plane and That the Earth Is Not a Globe! Birmingham, 1849. Print. [Digital, 1881 ed.: <http://sacred-texts.com/earth/za/>]
12. Kenton, Edna. http://amzn.to/1t65Tck The Book of Earths. New York: W. Morrow & Company, 1928. Print. <http://amzn.to/1t65Tck> [Digital: <http://sacred-texts.com/earth/boe/index.htm>]